Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Laugh At |
Laugh AtVerb1. Subject to laughter or ridicule: "The satirists ridiculed the plans for a new opera house"; "The students poked fun at the inexperienced teacher". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Synonyms: Laugh AtSynonyms: blackguard (v), guy (v), jest at (v), make fun (v), poke fun (v), rib (v), ridicule (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Contempt | Look down upon; hold cheap, hold in contempt, hold in disrespect; think nothing of, think small beer of; make light of; underestimate; esteem slightly, esteem of small or no account; take no account of, care nothing for; set no store by; not care a straw, sneeze at; (unimportance); set at naught, laugh in one's sleeve, laugh up one's sleeve, snap one;s fingers at, shrug one's shoulders, turn up one's nose at, pooh-pooh, "damn with faint praise"; whistle at, sneer at; curl up one's lip, toss the head, traiter de haut enbas; laugh at; (be disrespectful). |
Disrespect | Have in derision; hold in derision; deride, scoff, barrack, sneer, laugh at, ridicule, gibe, mock, jeer, hiss, hoot, taunt, twit, niggle, gleek, gird, flout, fleer; roast, turn into ridicule; burlesque; laugh to scorn; (contempt); smoke; fool; make game of, make a fool of, make an April fool of; play a practical joke; lead one a dance, run the rig upon, have a fling at, scout; mob. |
Ridicule | Play upon, play tricks upon; fool to the top of one's bent; laugh at, grin at, smile at; poke fun at. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Laugh At |
| English words defined with "laugh at": Bejape ♦ energy ♦ get-up-and-go ♦ push ♦ The five wits, To laugh at. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "laugh at": Carmelite ♦ Laughing ♦ Theater. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "laugh at": Irrision. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Jeez you don't have to laugh at me. (American Pie; writing credit: Adam Herz) Lets all laugh at the duck (Space Jam; writing credit: Leonardo Benvenuti; Steve Rudnick) Don't laugh at me (Can't Hardly Wait; writing credit: Deborah Kaplan; Harry Elfont) I laugh at Hamlet (Directed by William Wyler; writing credit: Euzhan Palcy; Jean Rouch) I don't know whether to laugh at that kind of megalomania, or simply cry. (Seven Days in May; writing credit: Fletcher Knebel; Charles W. Bailey II) | |
Lyrics | And I laugh at myself (The World I Know; performing artist: Collective Soul) You like to laugh at me (Only Wanna Be With You; performing artist: Hootie & The Blowfish) Set me on a straight path, what about I had to laugh at her (Take Your Time; performing artist: HOT) Laugh oh how we would laugh at anything (Summerfling; performing artist: K.d. lang) I can see it when you laugh at me (My Way; performing artist: Limp Bizkit) | |
Clever | Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others. (references; author: unknown) If you can't laugh at yourself, you may be missing the joke of the century. (references; author: unknown) Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, they will never cease to be amused. (references; author: unknown) If we'd confess our sins to one another, we'd all laugh at the lack of originality. (references; author: unknown) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Don't laugh at me! cried his assailant. I been workin' all day. I'm tired as hell. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Baruch (Benedict de) Spinoza | I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them. |
Epictetus | If evil be said of thee and if it be true, correct thyself; if it be a lie, laugh at it. |
Jane Austen | For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn? |
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe | By nothing do men show their character more than by the things they laugh at. |
Napoleon Bonaparte | We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him. |
Pierre Augustin de Beaumarchais | I hasten to laugh at everything, for fear of being obliged to weep. |
Pierre De Beaumarchais | I quickly laugh at everything for fear of having to cry. |
Seneca | It better befits a man to laugh at life than to lament over it. |
Thomas Szasz | When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | I laugh at the idea that there is any one there that has anything to say to me. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | CARMELITE, n. A mendicant friar of the order of Mount Carmel. As Death was a-rising out one day, Across Mount Camel he took his way, Where he met a mendicant monk, Some three or four quarters drunk, With a holy leer and a pious grin, Ragged and fat and as saucy as sin, Who held out his hands and cried: "Give, give in Charity's name, I pray. Give in the name of the Church. O give, Give that her holy sons may live!" And Death replied, Smiling long and wide: "I'll give, holy father, I'll give thee -- a ride." With a rattle and bang Of his bones, he sprang From his famous Pale Horse, with his spear; By the neck and the foot Seized the fellow, and put Him astride with his face to the rear. The Monarch laughed loud with a sound that fell Like clods on the coffin's sounding shell: "Ho, ho! A beggar on horseback, they say, Will ride to the devil!" -- and thump Fell the flat of his dart on the rump Of the charger, which galloped away. Faster and faster and faster it flew, Till the rocks and the flocks and the trees that grew By the road were dim and blended and blue To the wild, wild eyes Of the rider -- in size Resembling a couple of blackberry pies. Death laughed again, as a tomb might laugh At a burial service spoiled, And the mourners' intentions foiled By the body erecting Its head and objecting To further proceedings in its behalf. Many a year and many a day Have passed since these events away. The monk has long been a dusty corse, And Death has never recovered his horse. For the friar got hold of its tail, And steered it within the pale Of the monastery gray, Where the beast was stabled and fed With barley and oil and bread Till fatter it grew than the fattest friar, And so in due course was appointed Prior. G.J. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
Expressions using "laugh at": it is nothing to laugh at ♦ laugh at smb. ♦ To laugh at. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
don t laugh at me | 79 |
dont laugh at me | 32 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "laugh at"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | tallem (flout, fool about, fool around, hoax, jape, jeer, joke, make fun of, make smb. laugh, make sport of, mock, quiz, scoff), qesh me. (various references) | |
Arabic | هزأ ب (deride, gibe, gird, hold up, mockery, roast, sneer), سخر (befool, chip, debunk, deride, fleer, guy, jape, jeer, kid, lampoon, make a game of, make fun of, mimic, mock, monkey, override, persiflage, pillory, poke fun, pooh pooh, quip, quiz, rally, rib, ridicule, satirize, scoff, send up, smile, snap, sneer, snigger, taunt, tee-hee, twit), ضحك من (kid). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | усмихвам се на, смея се (be amused, ha-ha, laugh), пренебрегвам (disregard, flaunt, flout, ignore, lay aside, neglect, overlook, overpass, pass over, pass up, pretermit, put by, shrug off, sink, sit on, slight, wave aside, wave away), присмивам се на (mock, poke fun at), подигравам се на (dig, joke, make fun of, monkey, poke fun at, taunt), подигравам (bosh, fool, make fun of, mock, ridicule, roast, send up). (various references) | |
Chinese | 悝 (sad), 嗤 (jeer, scoff at, sneer at). (various references) | |
Czech | vysmívat se (deride, fleer, scoff, sneer), nebrat co vážnì. (various references) | |
Danish | udle. (various references) | |
Dutch | uitlachen. (various references) | |
Esperanto | mokridi pri. (various references) | |
French | tourner qn en dérision, sourire de, se moquer de (laugh), rire comme un fou, mépriser de. (various references) | |
German | verlachen (deride, ridicule), belachen, auslachen (laugh down, sneer, to laugh (at)). (various references) | |
Greek | εμπαίζω (deride, make fun, mock, quiz, rally, scoff, sneer). (various references) | |
Hebrew | ללעו' (deride, gibe, guy, jeer, make fun of, mock, ridicule, scoff, sneer), לאפוז (jeer, mock, scoff, sneer), ל'לו' (derision, irony, jeer, mock, mockery, ridicule, sneer, taunt). (various references) | |
Hungarian | nevet valamin, kinevet valakit (laugh out, make fun of), kigúnyol valakit. (various references) | |
Indonesian | mentertawakan. (various references) | |
Italian | deridere (deride, hoot, jeer, laugh, mock, scoff, sneer). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 笑い飛ばす (to laugh at), 人笑い (something people would laugh at), 人笑え (something people would laugh at). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ひとわらい (something people would laugh at), ひとわらえ (something people would laugh at), わらいとばす (to laugh at). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | aughlay atay.(various references) | |
Romanian | râde de (make fun of). (various references) | |
Russian | смеяться над кем-л., смеяться над (laugh over, poke fun at, scoff at). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | ismevati (diddle, make fun of, mock, quiz, ridicule), ismejavati (deride). (various references) | |
Spanish | reírse de (make a game of, make fun of, poke fun at). (various references) | |
Swedish | skratta åt (laugh over). (various references) | |
Turkish | gülmek (laugh, smile, smile on, sneer), alaya almak (bring into derision, chip, deride, make fun of, ridicule), alay etmek (deride, flout, gibe, gird at, gird at smb., give smb. a roasting, groove, guy, hold in derision, ironize, jape, jeer, jeer at, jibe, jolly, Josh, make a game of, make a jest of, make fun of, make merry over, mock, poke fun, poke fun at smb., pull smb.'s leg, razz, ridicule, roast, rot, scoff, take the mickey out of smb., taunt). (various references) | |
Welsh | chwerthin am ben. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | derideat, deridebant, deridebis, deridebit, derident, deridet, deridetur, deriserunt, derisio, derisorum, derisu, derisum, derisus, inrideant, inrideas, inrideat, inridebant, inridebit, inridebunt, inridens, inridentes, inridentibus, inridere, inridet, inriseris, inriserunt, inrisionem, inrisum, rideam, rideat, ridebam, ridebis, ridebit, ridebo, ridebunt, ridendi, ridetis, risi, risit, risu, risum, risus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Proverbs Chapter 1, Verse 26 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Toigaroun kagw th umetera apwleia epigelasomai katacaroumai de hnika an erchtai umin oleqroV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Ego quoque in interitu vestro ridebo et subsannabo cum vobis quod timebatis advenerit |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | I forsothe in youre deth shal lawyhe; and vndermouwe you, whan to you that, that yee dredden, shal come. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | So in the day of your trouble I will be laughing; I will make sport of your fear; |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Proverbs Chapter 1, Verse 26 |
| Cebuano | Ako usab mokatawa sa adlaw sa inyong pagkaalaut; Ako magatamay sa diha nga moabut ang inyong kahadlok; |
| Chinese | 們 遭 災 難 、 我 就 發 笑 ． 驚 恐 臨 到 們 、 我 必 嗤 笑 ． |
| Croatian | zato æu se i ja smijati vašoj propasti, rugat æu se kad vas obuzme tjeskoba: |
| Danish | derfor ler jeg ved eders Ulykke, spotter, når det, I frygter, kommer, |
| Dutch | Zo zal Ik ook in ulieder verderf lachen; Ik zal spotten, wanneer uw vreze komt. |
| Finnish | niin minäkin nauran teidän hädällenne, pilkkaan, kun tulee se, mitä te kauhistutte; |
| French | Moi aussi, je rirai quand vous serez dans le malheur, Je me moquerai quand la terreur vous saisira, |
| German | so will ich auch lachen in eurem Unglück und eurer spotten, wenn da kommt, was ihr fürchtet, |
| Haitian Creole | Konsa, lè n'a nan ka, m'a ri nou. Lè malè va fè nou tranble, m'a pase nou nan rizib. |
| Hungarian | Én is a ti nyomorúságtokon nevetek, megcsúfollak, mikor eljõ az, a mitõl féltek. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Karena itu, kalau kamu celaka, aku akan menertawakan kamu. Apabila kamu ketakutan, aku akan mengejek kamu. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | maka akupun akan tertawakan balamu kelak serta mengolok-olok akan kamu apabila ketakutan datang atas kamu. |
| Korean | 도 리 어 나 의 모 " 교 훈 을 멸 시 하 며 나 의 책 망 을 받 지 아 니 하 였 은 즉 |
| Maori | Mo reira ka kata ahau i te ra o to koutou aitua; ka tawai ina pa te pawera ki a koutou. |
| Norwegian | så vil også jeg le når ulykken rammer eder, jeg vil spotte når det kommer som I reddes for, |
| Portuguese | também eu me rirei no dia da vossa calamidade; zombarei, quando sobrevier o vosso terror, |
| Rumanian | de aceea wi eu, voi rkde cknd veyi fi kn vreo nenorocire, kmi voi bate joc de voi cknd vq va apuca groaza, |
| Russian | ъБ ФП Й С ПУНЕАУШ ЧБЫЕК ПЗЙ'ЕМЙ; ПТБ"ХАУШ, ЛПЗ"Б ТЙ"ЕФ ОБ ЧБУ ХЦБУ; |
| Spanish | yo también me reiré en vuestra calamidad. Me burlaré cuando os llegue lo que teméis, |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-g-h-l-t-u" | |
-2 letters: aught, galah, gault, ghaut, laugh. | |
-3 letters: agha, alga, gala, ghat, glut, halt, haul, haut, hula, lath, tala, thug. | |
-4 letters: aah, aal, aga, aha, ala, alt, gal, gat, gul, gut, hag, hat, hug, hut, lag, lat, lug, tag, tau, tug, ugh, uta. | |
-5 letters: aa, ag, ah, al, at, ha, la, ta, uh, ut. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-g-h-l-t-u" | |
+5 letters: manslaughter, ultraheating. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Bible Trace 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
